Musa,
Bravo guys for your courage.I'm on the 7:00 am shift this
Week and was unable to attend.Next time,we'll take over the
Embassy that way the press and everyone else will be out there.
Beran
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 2:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Demonstration at The Gambian Embassy
Washington DC April 25, a group of Gambians mostly from the
Washington
Metropolitan Area, staged a demonstration at The Gambian
embassy. In the wake
of the student demonstration in The Gambia, which left 12 dead
including a
Red Cross volunteer and scores wounded, Gambians in the diaspora
have been
expressing their disgust and total outrage in the form of
petitions, protest
marches, telephone calls to condemn the atrocities committed by
the Jammeh
administration. 32 Gambians, including 4 from Georgia, 1 from
North Carolina,
and 1 from California participated in todays protest.
At the beginning of the protest, 2 Secret Service Agents ( from
the uniform
division ) on scooters asked how long we planned to stay and
then they helped
themselves with coffee and donuts and took position watching our
every move.
It was cold and raining ' cats and dogs ' , but we stood our
ground, formed a
circle and chanting for an hour, exposing " His Holiness's "
regime or
whatever is left of it and then 22 of us went upstairs to
deliver a petition
and to seek an audience with Ambassador Bojang.
Approximately 12:05 pm, we entered suite 1000 and asked to speak
to the
Ambassador. Consular Juwara emerged and led us to the conference
room.
Needless to say, it was a ' full house ' . According to Mr.
Juwara,
Ambassador Bojang was out attending a book fair. Barely 5 mins.
into the
meeting before you could say " PA SEY ", the Feds ( secret
service agents ) a
dozen of them appeared everywhere. After a word with the embassy
officials,
they stood patiently in the receptionist's office. Apart from
the exhange of
words between a protestor and the commanding officer ( a lady ),
both sides
exercised a great deal of restraint ------- in total contrast to
what
happened in The Gambia. All the speakers condemned in very
strong terms, the
Jammeh administration for its poor Human Rights record, most
notably the
recent student massacre. Mr. Juwara was informed of our
intention to occupy
and disrupt all services in the embassy unless and until we meet
with the
Ambassador. That we were ready to be arrested and charged with a
misdemeanour
( punishable by a fine of $ 50.00 ). An hour into the meeting
with Consular
Juwara, Ambassador Bojang was seen talking to the Feds. Mr.
Juwara then
excused himself to talk to Mr. Bojang or what I'd call a 3 min.
briefing.
Both men then came to the conference room. We re-iterated our
position : That
we came to demonstrate our solidarity and support for GAMSU;
That our
petition be transmitted in its entirety.
The meeting with ' His Excellency ' was raucous at some point
as tempers
flared, but it ended peacefully. Ambassador Bojang was given our
petition and
he promised to follow " Protocol " and send it immediately.
The turnout was good ( 32 ). We had anticipated a larger crowd,
but due to
the inclement weather condition, many thought the demonstration
was
cancelled. Thank God, we weren't out there to vote, but to
deliver a message.
Hence, our " friends " on the other side can't down play the
significance of
the protest by playing the numbers game. During the meeting, a
gentleman
sitting next to me using his cell phone, called his wife's
doctor to re -
schedule an appointment. He said succinctly, " This's history in
the making
and I wouldn't want to miss a minute ... Coming here is the
least I could do.
The real Jambarrs are in The Gambia ".
Musa.
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